How to watch NCAA College Football 2018-2019 live online

The NCAA College Football 2018-2019 season has begun! Last season, Alabama Crimson Tide took the National Championship title, their fifth time doing so in the past 10 years. Will they do it again, or will another contender like Ohio State, Auburn, or Clemson rise to take their throne? Regardless of who wins, you can watch NCAA College Football live online.

NCAA broadcast rights are extremely complicated. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to watch every single game even with a cable subscription, as many games are only broadcast on local TV networks.

In the US, your best option to watch as many games as possible will be through ESPN, ABC, CBS, CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports, NBC Sports Network, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network. No one option carries all of those channels (not even traditional cable), but we’ll detail out where you can get them.

In Canada, you can catch a large number of games through Sportsnet Now, DAZN, TSN, and a few others.

You may also have options to watch NCAA College Football abroad in countries like the UK, Australia, Germany, and more, by using a virtual private network, or VPN. We’ll explain in detail how you can watch NCAA College Football live online in the US, Canada, and abroad with a VPN.

Of the options we’ve tested, ExpressVPN provides the most consistent performance for sports streaming. We’ve found it works out-of-the-box with every major and minor sports streaming service, allowing fast live streaming with heightened security. You’ll also find ExpressVPN provides a strict no-logs policy, meaning even they don’t keep any of your data or streaming habits on record.

As an added bonus, connecting to ExpressVPN lets you get past geographic content blocks while you travel outside the US, making NCAA games easy to access anywhere.

How to watch NCAA College Football with a VPN

Log into a US-based server in the city of your choice. We recommend a US server as most games will not be available in other countries.

Open your chosen streaming service.

Start streaming the games of your choice. You should be able to view the games, both local and nationally broadcast, depending on the service you’re using.

You may find that some services block VPN connections on certain browsers, such as Chrome. In order to get ExpressVPN or other VPNs to work while using some web browsers, try logging out of the browser, as well as clearing your cache, browsing history, and cookies.

Where to watch NCAA College Football

NCAA College Football is a uniquely American experience. As a result, there are very few streams for games that exist on services outside of the US. However, you will find that some of the broadcast options are free, with your only blockade being geographic content restrictions that can be bypassed through a VPN.

In general, only the US and Canada have major online services where broadcasts can be viewed.

United States

As stated, the broadcast rights in the US for NCAA College Football are extremely complex. While the NCAA does not implement too many blackouts, many games simply aren’t available outside of their respective regions. A few major broadcasters will be carrying most games, and you can watch most games throughout the year. Additionally, only a select few broadcasters have rights to the NCAA College Football championship games. Once the playoffs and championships begin, your viewing options will get much easier to handle. Until then, here’s a long list of where to go watch different regional games.

American Athletic Conference (AAC)

ESPN

ABC

CBS Sports

Atlantic Coast (ACC)

ACC Network (2019 launch)

ESPN

Local syndicates in select cities, to include CW, MyNetworkTV, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS. For more information on local affiliates carrying ACC, read here.

Various local TV networks, check with the individual school. FBS Independents include United States Military Academy, Brigham Young University, Liberty University, New Mexico State University, University of Notre Dame, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Mid-American (MAC)

ESPN

MAC Digital Network

Mountain West

ESPN

Mountain West Network

Pac-12 Networks

Stadium

CBS Sports

Pac-12

Pac-12 Networks

ESPN

FOX, FOX Sports

Southeastern (SEC)

SEC Network

ESPN

FOX Sports

Sun Belt

ESPN

SEC Network

CBS Sports

From this list, the primary options you’ll want to access are ESPN, CBS Sports, FOX Sports, SEC Network, Pac-12 Networks, Stadium, and Big 10 Network. No streaming service carries all of these options except traditional cable. Getting them all through traditional cable would be exceptionally expensive, though. That said, the following streaming services will give you the most coverage:

Free Networks

Some of the networks mentioned above will have free streams available online. You can access the following NCAA conferences both live and on-demand for free:

You’ll also be able to catch some games on a few local TV channels over-the-air. A good OTA antenna and receiver should allow you to watch games in your area broadcast on available networks where broadcast agreements exist.

Importantly, these free options can be accessed via a VPN if you’re traveling outside of the US.

You can get Sling TV for as low as $25 per month to get a selection of the above-mentioned networks. If you opt for their $40 per month Sling Orange + Blue subscription, however, you’ll get 3 ESPN channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3), FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2, and ACC Network.

For an extra $5 per month, you can also add an extra sports package to Sling TV that includes SEC Network, SEC Network+, Pac-12 Networks, and ESPN U. Bringing Sling TV’s channel coverage up to 10 separate options, this makes Sling TV the single best option for US NCAA sports fans.

The sports-centric streaming service fuboTV is going to be a great option for anyone that wants some of the smaller conferences. For $45 per month, fuboTV provides FOX Sports 1 and 2, Pac-12 Networks, CBS Sports Network, and Big Ten Network.

A bit of an expensive option to consider, DirecTV Now has a $40 per month option that provides ESPN, ESPN2, and FOX Sports 1. If you want all of the available NCAA College Football options DirecTV Now provides, you’ll need to sign up for their $75 per month package, which offers the three mentioned above, as well as SEC Network, FOX Sports 2, and ESPNU.

Google’s YouTube TV service is one of the better options for anyone looking to catch as many NCAA football games as possible. For $40 per month, you’ll get a load of channels that includes Big Ten Network, SEC Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, CBS Sports, Fox Sports 1, and Fox Sports 2.

Hulu with Live TV is an option to consider, as well. Through Hulu with Live TV, you’ll get ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox Sport 1 and 2, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network, and SEC Network. The cost comes in at $40 per month.

Stick with us here. DAZN US currently only offers fighting sports like MMA and boxing. However, DAZN Canada provides Pac-12 Networks games. From our testing, a VPN like ExpressVPN will let you bypass DAZN’s geographic content blocking and works to get you DAZN Canada streams — including Pac-12 Networks NCAA College Football games. This makes it one of the cheapest options to explore.

Canada

Canadians get to enjoy a selection of NCAA College Football games. Those living close enough can pick up some matches using OTA antennas. Outside of that, a few streaming services will be carrying some, but not all, of the many games that span the NCAA conferences.

Other countries

Your options to watch NCAA College Football in countries outside of the US and Canada are slim. However, a VPN will work to bypass most of the websites and services mentioned above. Especially for US residents, you can even sign up to a DAZN US account, then use a VPN to get Pac-12 through DAZN Canada. Presumably, this option should work for anyone with a DAZN account in other countries as well, such as the UK or Germany.